Panopticon

by Ryan Phipps

“I know why the caged bird sings.” —Maya Angelou

R A R E B L I S S

Every now and then, I take my kids to a familiar fast-food chain with an indoor play area for children.

As soon as we enter the restaurant, they rush into the play area— a secure, climate-controlled environment filled with various climbing contraptions, surrounded by walls of transparent glass.

I sit outside the glass, monitoring their play. And in a parent's rare bliss, I relax, eating a cheeseburger and fries.

As an added bonus, I also know that their play will cause them to fall into a deep sleep on the ride home.

Everyone wins!

What would parents do without places like this?

F A I R N E S S

On a recent visit to such and establishment, we arrived only to discover that I had forgotten to bring socks for my kids to wear in the play area.

The rules for the play area are clear. They're posted on a giant sign inside the play area that reads, “All Children In Play Area Must Wear Socks.”

“Rules are for bending.” I thought to myself, so I sent them in, sockless to play. Then, I went out to the counter to retrieve our food. It was taking a while, so I glanced over to look in through the glass to check on them. There they were, frozen in terror, standing in front of one of the workers who was scolding them.

I walked back into the play area and asked the worker, “Is something wrong?”

She responded, “They have to wear socks to play in here, so I was reminding them!”

I glanced around at the rest of the room. It was full of children— not a single one of them wearing socks.

Before I could catch myself, I fired, “Is it only my children who have to wear socks or do they all have to?”

She fired back, “Right now, sir, I’m talking to your children. There are socks for sale at the counter for a dollar.”

I looked around and counted all the kids in the room. There were twelve, including mine. So I stormed out of the play area, walked up to the counter and said, “I’d like to buy twelve pairs of socks, please!”

The young man behind the register (who, I'm certain was high) said, “Wow, man! That's crazy! I’ve never sold anyone that many before!”

I handed him the money, he handed me the socks, and I took them back to the play area. Once inside, I started tossing them to each of the parents in the room.

They all thanked me. A few even started applauding.

The worker who scolded my children shook her head and sighed, exiting the play area.

I believe in fairness.

P R E D E S T I N A T I O N

In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, there’s a familiar passage that is difficult to quantify. It appears to include some and cast others aside.

The passage reads;

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

—Ephesians 1

This is one of the most cited passages to justify a doctrinal position called "predestination." It is the belief that God predestines some for eternal life, and others for eternal damnation.

Some use this passage to exclude people. But I see it saying something entirely different, namely because of the last verse that says,

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Hmm. If “all things” are being unified under Christ, how can that only mean “some things”?

B L A N K N E S S

The Greek philosopher Xenophanes once wrote,

"The Ethiopians say that their God is flat-nosed and black, while the Thracians say that God has blue eyes and red hair. Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw, or if they could sculpt like men, then the horses would draw God like horses, and the cattle like cattle; and each, they would shape the body of God in the likeness, each kind, of their own."

And isn't that what we do? We project all that we are onto the divine, assuming it is just as we are.

In other words, if I’m impatient, then God must also be impatient.

If I’m judgmental, then God must also be judgmental.

If I despise a certain people group, then God must also despise that group.

Cue the battle hymns of every war fought in the name of faith, where each side believes that in eradicating the other, they are performing the will of God.

This is how ugly beliefs can get.

So when we study the scriptures, trying to discern truth, it is imperative that we approach them with blankness.

We must set aside our biases if we want to see what the scripture is saying to us. And when we do, the scripture often says things that don’t confirm our biases.

That being said, I would posit that the words, “all things” in the passage from Ephesians means exactly that.

Another passage, written by the same author in The Book Of Colossians, mirrors it this way;

We look at Jesus and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything above and below, visible and invisible, got started in him and finds its purpose in him.

He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

From beginning to end he’s there, spacious and roomy. Everything finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of him.

—Colossians 1

What does that (and the passage from Ephesians) say if we read it without bias or preconditioning? Could this be what God is like?

What if the God behind the world is good to all, good for all, trying to unify us all?

And if we are predestined to something, maybe we’re predestined to that?